The present invention relates to skis in general, and more particularly to bindings, especially for use on cross-country skis. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in devices for releasably holding movable parts of ski bindings in selected positions for selected periods of time.
It is well known that the boot support of a binding is pivotable at its front end so as to enable the skier to lift the heel of one boot above and away from the upper side of the respective ski while the other ski is in the process of moving forwardly and to maintain the heel of the one boot above and away from the upper side of the respective ski at least during the initial stage of forward movement of such ski in order to catch up and to move ahead of the other ski. It is also known to releasably lock the boot supports of such cross-country ski bindings to the respective skis when the skis are used for downhill skiing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,595 to Smialowski et al. discloses a device which can be used to releasably hold a mobile component of a ski binding against movement relative to the ski and, to this end, is pivotally attached to the ski. Consequently, and when the device moves from the operative position to an inoperative or retracted position, its front end travels along an arcuate path which is very close to the heel of the respective boot and even closer to that part of the binding which engages the boot. Therefore, the device is likely to collide with the means for directly engaging the boot which can present problems in that the device can jam and/or an inexperienced skier will be incapable of helping herself or himself. Moreover, pronounced pivoting of the device above and away from the upper side of the ski provides room for penetration of snow and/or ice which prevents return movement of the device to its operative position.